Our day began in the Mountain Rose parking lot here in beautiful Eugene, Oregon. If there is such a thing as perfect trash picking weather, this was it! Warm breeze, just a few raindrops to cool us off, cloud cover to shield us from the brutal sun and heat. Perfecto! Our team loaded tools, gloves, and trash bags into the Mountain Rose vehicle. Pickers and stickers in hand, we struck out to clean up a local trail.
We recently adopted a section of the bike path that runs parallel to the Amazon Creek canal which empties into the Long Tom River. Many of us use the bike path to get to and from work and we feel it’s our responsibility to help maintain the path and keep trash out of the creek.
As the Director of Sustainability, it’s up to me to organize these volunteer days. It’s probably the most fun and rewarding part of what I do here. The Mountain Rose River Project is a grassroots, employee-led program which completes 6-8 restoration projects each year as part of our Paid Time for Community Involvement Program. Funded entirely by Mountain Rose, we partner with numerous non-profits and governmental agencies. The teams of spunky volunteers tackle projects to restore riparian ecosystems, maintain stream health, and protect wildlife habitat.
So, on that fine drizzly day, we had the opportunity to get out of the office, give back to our community, and have some fun with co-workers. What makes us really proud is that fact that we collected 120 gallons of trash!
Learn more about the Mountain Rose River Project and other Sustainability Initiatives.
Check out our Facebook page for more photos from this fun day!
